Luc Beeson portrays Dracula as a love-obsessed Prince. So much that he is adorned with blinders onto the world. For him, to do battle and horror is a distraction to his constant teenage-kid play-like relationship with his love Elizabeth. They frolic, pillow fight and fire guns in the bedroom. Doing a cliche I’m so tired of- that a man must stand beside a woman and teach and assist firing a gun. Knock it off. Their immature love matches the immature version of this classic story, because it is in fact Luc Beeson that has blinders on. It is he that is so obsessed with the love story that all other elements of the story that are quite good fall by the wayside. It seems to Beeson what was missing with all other versions was jokes, and punchlines. This version is juvenile but I wouldn’t aspect anything different from him.  It is ridiculous. Even without the cheap CGI Gargoyle servants at his disposal. Yep the film has that.

The production design, the costume, the art direction is actually stunning. So good it is the only thing that makes it entertaining to see this film. Especially the costuming. It is really the only thing I love about the film. The film would be better if the characters did not talk and take away the teenage dialogue. Even if you do that then you still have to endure that there is a portion of the film that decided to make Dracula a perfumist that manufactures an elixir that draws every single woman on the planet to him in a love trance so he can find his reincarnated love. This is twelve year old boy crap. 

Beeson is not going to change this style or approach to film even if it is Dracula. His caricature approach to character and shallow deep story is on full display. If you are a fan of Beeson then it is for you, if you are a fan of Dracula then certainly not.  It isn’t fair that we got a great take  of Noseferatu two years ago that was phenomenal and was my number one film that year to compare to this one. Dracula is classic tale that will continue for the ages, a story of a scorned, condemn man that turned into a vampire that will scorch the earth to find his love again is compelling to continue on. It just wasn’t going to be a good fit for Beeson to splash all his delinquent approaches to story onto this classic tale. Some stories just don’t work with the artist style and this is a prime example. I wonder if you just take out the name Dracula and replace it with something different might be best because there is a lot of history and expectation attach to Dracula that many fans of it are not forgiving. In this version Dracula constantly talks about his desires for death and in divine irony so do we. 4.5/10